OPEN SYSTEM IN RESILIENT CITY

BY

AKINLABI ADEOLU P (139054017)

SUBMITTED TO
THE DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS

COURSE
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND LAND RESOURCES
(URP 806)

LECTURER IN CHARGE
DR. ADEJUMO

DATE
SEPTEMBER, 2014

INTRODUCTION

In the 1970s the term resilience originated in the field of ecology from the research of
C.S. Holling, who delimitated resilience as a measure of the persistence of systems and of their
ability to absorb change and disturbance and still maintain the same relationships between
populations or state variables (Holling, 1973, p. 14). In short, resilience is best defined as the
ability of a system to absorb disturbances and still retain its basic function and structure
(Walker and Salt, 2006, p.1 and as the capacity to change in order to maintain the same
identity (Folke et al., 2010). Being resilience does not means that a phenomenon would not
undergo shock, face with challenge, but it enables the particular environment to bounce back
stronger after the tough period and then live better in good times.
Resilience can be best described by three crucial characteristics according to Carpenter et
al. (2001): (1) the amount of disturbance a system can absorb and still remain within the same
state or domain of attraction; (2) the degree to which the system is capable of self-organization;
and (3) the ability to build and increase the capacity for learning and adaptation. All these three
characteristics are very important when considering resilience, because they are the features that
can prove that a system is resilient. In terms of City, as a system, it is applicable to it, that is, the
amount of disturbance in terms of natural disaster, economic disaster, political problem and
environmental disaster a city can absorb and still remain within the same state of attraction, then
the degree to which the city is capable of self-organization during the aforementioned chaos and
lastly, the ability to build and increase the capacity for learning and adaptation. Resilience has
two components: that provided by nature, and that provided through human action and
interaction, that is, natural and human actions.
Challenges, disturbance or change through natural and human actions cannot be stopped,
they will always come, but being resilient of a city will always make the city to bounce back and
live better. At a particular point resilient city can be even likened to an insured city.
In order to make a city resilient, one of the things that must be focused on is proper planning of
the environment in relation to human that dwells there. In planning for the environment there
1

must be a rational thinking as well as wide area thinking, in terms of economic, social and
infrastructures. Environment must be planned in relation to the external environment in order to
achieve resilience; open system approach must be employed.

SYSTEM
Before we can consider or examine the open system in a resilient city, first and foremost
we have to understand what it means by system theory.
In the most basic definition a system is a group of interacting components that conserves
some identifiable set of relations with the sum of the components plus their relations (i.e., the
system itself) conserving some identifiable set of relations to other entities (including other
systems. Or in a simplified state; a system may be defined as a set of social, biological,
technological or material partners co-operating on a common purpose. Systems can be identified
by their structure, that is, system has its own identity and this can be determined from the
components of such system.
According

to

Ludwig

Bertalanffy. (1901-1972),

he describes

two

types

of

systems: closed systems and open systems.

Closed systems, on the other hand, are held to be isolated from their environment.
Equilibrium thermodynamics, for example, is a field of study that applies to closed systems.
Closed-systems consider the external environment (technological advancements, the cultural and
demographic characteristics of the community, legal decisions, political decisions, etc.) to be
stable and predictable, and they assume that it does not intervene in or cause problems for the
functioning of an organization. Therefore, the closed-systems do not depend on the external
environment for explanations or solutions to managerial issues; instead, they are enclosed and
sealed off from the outside world (Daft, 2001). These models rely primarily on internal
organizational processes.
The open systems are systems that allow interactions between its internal elements and
the environment. An open system is defined as a system in exchange of matter with its
environment, presenting import and export, building-up and breaking-down of its material
2

components. An open system tends to believe that the surrounding environment is unstable and
unpredictable and it may have direct and indirect impacts both positively and negatively on it.
Apart from this, an open system takes into cognizance that the environment in the surrounding,
when face with a challenge, it can affect the system, thus it provided for interaction with such
environment.

OPEN SYSTEM IN RESILIENT CITY

In terms of open system in a resilient city, the system allows a city to have interaction
with the surrounding environment because it believes that the input of the surrounding
environment would have impacts on the city output before, during and after any challenge faced
by the city.
Closed system in resilient city can be compared to planning within the environment (city)
without relating it to the immediate and even remote environment. Whereas Open system in
resilient planning is synonymous to a comprehensive approach and wide area approach in
planning, in which both the immediate, that is internal phenomenon is not only considered, but
the external which is tantamount to remote phenomenon is well considered and planned along
with. Thus, you plan in relation to your surroundings, not in planning in isolation.
An open system is a system that regularly exchanges feedback with its external
environment. Open systems are systems, of course, so inputs, processes, outputs, goals,
assessment and evaluation, and learning are all important. Aspects that are critically important to
open systems include the boundaries, and external environment
Open system helps greatly in resilience because it allows the contributions of the external
environment to improve the life of the resilient city. Let us examine the characteristics of a
resilient city according to John Twigg, (2007).
a. Community hazard/risk assessments carried out which provide comprehensive picture of all
major hazards and risks facing community (and potential risks).
b. Hazard/risk assessment is participatory process including representatives of all sections of
community and sources of expertise.

c. Assessment findings shared, discussed, understood and agreed among all stakeholders, and
feed into community disaster planning.
d. Findings made available to all interested parties (within and outside community, locally and
at higher levels) and feed into their disaster planning.
e. Ongoing monitoring of hazards and risks and updating of assessments.
f. Skills and capacity to carry out community hazard and risk assessments maintained through
support and training.
Critically looking at these characteristics of a resilient city according to John Twigg (2007),
we would discover that open system is very important if a city would be a resilient one. Let us
examine each characteristic in order to be able to validate the use of an open system in a
resilient city.
In the aspect of Community hazard or risk assessment carried out which provide
comprehensive picture of all major hazards and risks facing the community, this must be done
with respect to the surrounding environments to the community in order to have valid
information concerns environmental hazard, for instance when a community is being face with
erosion challenge, at least during the course of assessing this, the origin of it must be put into
consideration or better still the direction in order to have a comprehensive information on it. In
doing this, such community may detect that the activities being carry out in the adjoining
community (ies) is one of the reason they also are at the risk or hazard of the consequence.
Participatory process of the risk assessment which includes all the representatives of all
sections of the community and sources of expertise also cannot be done in isolation when
working towards having a resilient community or city. This entails, after having the
representatives from all the sections in the community, the expertise also need to be involved,
especially from outside the community in order for them to contribute based on their experience
or exposure and this would lead to a robust approach in the assessment. The inputs of the
external force here would also determine the output of the community.
Another perspective of Participatory process of the risk assessment which includes all the
representatives of all sections of the community and sources, is this, when a community is view
as a system and each section of the communities involve in the city are view as a subsystem, in
4

the course of making such a city a resilient one, each subsystem must not plan or prepare in
isolation, rather they should be opened to other subsystem in the system (city). Example of this
is the issue of infrastructural planning of a city, this must not be done in isolation because the
economic planning section input would determine the output of infrastructural planning section.
Skills and capacity to carry out community hazard and risk assessment through support and
training is also another characteristic of a resilient community and this cannot be done alone by
the community because of the equipment involve and apart from this a community that does not
rely on the external environment for technical input always be at the risk of total damage.
In the area of economic resilience of a city, from its basic level, a city that is economically
assailable is one that does not prepared for the effects of climate change because it lacks the
needed financial resources. Preparing a climate resilient environment will require huge
investments in infrastructure, city planning, engineering sustainable energy sources, and
preparedness systems.
This implies that a resilient city must use an open system in tackling the economic issue by
having a good economic relationship with its surrounding environments be it the immediate or
remote environment. Their economics relationship would determine the extent of their
resilience. In a community, it is more likely that people living at or below poverty will be
affected the most by climate change and is thus the most vulnerable, because they will have the
least amount of resource to invest in resiliency infrastructure. They will also have the least
amount of resource for cleanup efforts after more frequently occurring natural climate change
related disasters. This implies that the community should not plan within their system alone
(closed system approach); rather they should employ an open system.
In conclusion, an open system approach is very essential in the course of achieving a
resilient city, because it would be a part of the approaches that would facilitate the realization of
the goals set by such city.

REFERENCE

John Twigg (2007), characteristics of a disaster-resilient community DFID Disaster Risk

Reduction Interagency Coordination Group Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre.
Lawrence B. (2009) System Plan http://www.lbl.gov Environment, Health, and Safety
Division Environmental Services Group National Laboratory Environmental Management
LBNL-PUB-3180 (March 2009)
Lawrence B. National Laboratory, Technical Assessment Manual
http://www.lbl.gov/DIR/OIA/assets/docs/OCA/OCA_ESH/ESH Technical Assurance Program
Manual R1 Final.pdf, LBNL/PUB-913E (December 2008).
Da Silva, et al (2013) - Visions of a resilient city
http://www.arup.com/service/international_development.aspxt
Umberto P.(2012) Resilience and Sustainable Development; Theory of resilience, systems
thinking and adaptive governance. ESDN Quarterly Report N26 www.sd-network.eu
Alexander L, Stanley K (1998) Systems Theories: Their Origins, Foundations, and
Development Published in: J.S. Jordan (Ed.), Systems Theories and A Priori Aspects of
Perception. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1998. Ch. 3, pp. 47-74.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, (2011)
Characteristics of a Safe and Resilient Community. Community Based Disaster Risk
Reduction Study ARUP International Development September 2011 http://www.ifrc.org